


A New Me

by Leslie123S



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Chemistry, Gen, Grimmauld Place, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Potions, Room of Requirement, Wandless Magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-05-16 11:22:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14810411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leslie123S/pseuds/Leslie123S
Summary: Harry is at a loss: The fact that old Voldy is now dead didn't change the wizarding society all that much. There is still hate and discrimination, and why can't they just bloody LEARN? But with the help of some quite unexpected friends Harry might be able to create a life he actually likes living. And maybe people did learn - at least some of them. And who is he to expect to much?





	1. Life at Grimmauld Place

**Author's Note:**

> This is my idea of Harry's eighth year at Hogwarts, I hope you enjoy it.  
> This story will have some more chapters, but I'm not sure how many.  
> I'll keep you updated.  
> Spelling or language mistakes are my own, you are free to return them to me :D  
> I'll also appreciate some kudos or comments :)

It was bloody awful. One would think one’s life got better once they got rid of the mad man trying to kill them, but no, apparently not. For Harry it only got worse. First he shrugged of his discomfort, thinking they only meant good, but only one week after the final battle he wasn’t so sure of that any more. But now, one could argue whether there is anything one couldn’t do when one was Harry bloody Potter and just saved the Wizarding World from old Voldy. There isn’t anything on this planet that could possibly unravel the Boy Who Lived Twice, right? 

Well obviously that’s a lie, because right now there were three reporters standing outside his house in Grimmauld Place. This god damn house is supposed to be hidden, for fucks sake! Was this how his life was going to be from now on? Well, he could always flee the country... But really, he would rather not. 

Hermione kept buggering him that he should just give them what they wanted, make a few interviews and so on, but Harry just couldn’t believe that would stop them from camping on his doorstep. Anyway, maybe he just was a bit too stubborn to give in. And since Harry probably was one of the few people who knew that Hermione Granger, despite her knowledge and all, was just a human being and could make mistakes, too, he didn’t feel very guilty ignoring her. 

She was also frequently ranting about this old house and how Harry couldn’t possibly live there. He knew she just wanted him to be happy, but what if he was happy here? Even if it was an old house full of dark magic, dangerous objects and rubbish. It felt confusingly right to be there all alone.

He had started sorting some things out there; it put his mind off from other things. He couldn’t quite grasp how the others did it, though. They were happy Voldemort was dead as if it actually solved all their problems. Okay, it solved quite a lot, but still, people had died and even if he got over them, the Wizarding World did not seem to learn. This whole war started not with one mad man, but with loads of them discriminating others. Voldemort was just the top of the iceberg, didn’t they understand? 

And right now they’re repeating their mistakes, discriminating each and everyone: People who didn’t fight in the war, people who used dark magic, people who were sceptical, Slytherins, werewolves (thanks to Greyback), giants, and in general everything and everyone they didn’t know. It was really awful to look at, but still, everyone else was able to just go on with their lives as if nothing ever happened. 

So, here he was, sorting through his godfather’s old stuff all alone. After Harry had explained, Ron and Hermione were actually willing to help, but he declined. And god damn, he was so happy he had done that. Nothing against their company, but he wanted to do this alone. Last time they searched the house, Mrs. Weasley would always be there and they would just throw away everything that could be a bit dark, and look where that got them. They had to break into the bloody ministry of magic to get their stuff back. 

Anyway, now Harry could really look on the things, sometimes even treasures that lay inside this house. He found a lot of things for protection, like charmed amulets, a ring that functioned like a sneakoscope, but they were probably better than the auror stuff, because they were additionally charmed with dark magic. 

That was one thing Harry found out recently: Dark magic doesn’t equal bad magic. They were some entirely different things. He supposed if he hadn’t slept through History of Magic, he would have known earlier, but since generations of pupils did exactly the same thing, there wasn’t anyone who could have told him incidentally. Dark and light magic were merely developed by two different societies of wizards. There even was a war, but soon afterwards, the so called Dark Wizards and Witches had to cover their identities since they lost the war because they were simply outnumbered. This made the whole situation of the Wizarding World even worse, Harry thought. 

But how was it supposed to get better? Killing Voldemort didn’t solve that at all. And maybe Dumbledore was a great man, really, but he had absolutely no idea how to find a proper teacher. A Deatheater, Voldemort himself, a werewolf, a ghost, the mobbing bastard Snape (hero or not)... they all taught at Hogwarts. How were young wizards and witches supposed to learn from their mistakes? But maybe, this time this stupid society couldn’t trust in Harry to save them all (Anyway, who expects an eleven year old to do their job, like – really?).

At the moment Harry worked his way on the second floor, but since Sirius’s room was right there and he didn’t especially want to go anywhere near it, he soon came to Regulus’s room. The door was locked, but a simple Alohomara got the trick. It was a lot tidier than he remembered Sirius’s, but that much was expected. The walls were painted a slight green and there were some framed photographs on the wall over the bed. The wardrobe in the corner was bit open and all in all, when one ignored the dust, it looked as if Regulus just left the room for a short while, coming back in a minute or two. Somehow it was disturbing. 

He looked through the things on the desk in another corner, but there wasn’t really anything of interest. Then he approached the photographs. At first he was surprised, how many people on them he actually knew. He saw Sirius, one photo of the Black family and very often there were two boys. Regulus, as it seems, and next to him stood undeniable Severus Snape, having thrown his arm on Regulus’s shoulders while he was waving in the camera. Regulus looked almost shy. He left the photos behind and turned. Just out of curiosity he opened the wardrobe and was surprised to find one half completely empty. He ran his fingers over the old wood and startled as he felt it shift under his fingers. Soon the bare wood had disappeared and now there was a painting of a young man with black hair in front of him. A snoring young man. He was very curious, but waking the portrait now wouldn’t serve him any good. The man would just be annoyed. So he went on with tidying up the house, but kept checking whether the man would wake up. After he was nearly finished with the floor in front of the two brother’s rooms, he heard a voice.

“Hey you!” the man shouted, “What are you doing inside my house?” 

Oh no, he didn’t sound too happy to see Harry here. Well, too late to do something about that... Anyway, he approached the painting. 

“Hello, my name is Harry Potter. And you are?” he asked as politely as he could. 

“Not even a Black? You definitely are not asking me questions in my own house. So answer me, why are you here?” 

Well, so that didn’t go too smooth. But he saw no bad thing in just answering truthfully. 

“I am the godson of Sirius Orion Black. He owned the house and since he died two years ago I inherited it. May I ask who you are?” 

Harry saw a small change in the portrait’s expression, but soon it was the cold mask again. 

“I’m Orion Black and I was the rightful owner of this house for years. But it kind of makes sense. Regulus told me, his brother would spend all his time with the Potter boy.” 

Harry suddenly looked up. Could it really be? “You... you are Sirius’s father?” 

“The one and only. What else did you think?” the painting countered snappishly. 

“Well, I... I don’t know...” Harry stuttered but soon regained his composure. “So you talked with Regulus before he died?” he asked, but soon realised his mistake. 

“Why else would I be in his wardrobe, stupid boy? He was always the more delicate of them both. After my death he had to cope with Walburga all on his own. And when she tossed my painting in the trash, he hid me here.” 

“Why did she want to get rid of you?” Harry more but blurted out. 

“Because I disagreed with her” 

And this seemed to be the last thing Orion wanted to say on this matter. “So tell me a little more about you. You look very young, shouldn’t you be in Hogwarts?” 

Not very happy with the change of subject, Harry nevertheless went along with it, to keep the wizard in a good mood. “They need some more time to rebuild it, so school starts in November this year” He told the other man casually. 

“Wait, why rebuild?” Orion interjected. 

“Oh, when was the last time you spoke with someone outside a painting?” Harry knew he had to explain some things, but he didn’t want to tell something he didn’t have to. 

“That would be Regulus. You see” Orion started to explain after Harry’s gasp, “Walburga first charmed my portrait, so that I can’t leave it, and since only the head of the house can allow me to visit their paintings, Regulus couldn’t reverse it. Anyway, you seem to have interesting news, and I’m not one to let this chance pass.”

So Harry told Orion the story: about Voldemort, a brief summary of his school years and the battle of Hogwarts. And since Orion couldn’t leave his portrait and he himself was the head of house, he found it save to tell him these things. Anyway, he just told him what you could read anywhere. 

“So you say you killed the Dark Lord?” Orion asked at the end of Harry’s story. “He isn’t dead. He will come back, just like he did before.” Orion predicted. 

“How come you think that?” Harry was confused. 

“I just know, mark my words, boy.” The man growled. 

And then it hit Harry like a lightning. “Of course” he shouted out, “Regulus knew, naturally, and he told you, right?” he exclaimed. 

“Told me what?” the portrait asked. 

“About Voldemort’s secret! Anyway, don’t worry about that.” 

Orion frowned. “So you claim to know about” he dropped his voice, “...the horcrux?” Harry figured, when Regulus could trust his father, then so could Harry. Orion was very surprised and engrossed to hear about the fact, that Voldemort made more than one horcrux. 

It soon was clear, that Orion believed quite a lot in blood purity, but never considered the idea of following a mad man and a muggle homicide a good one. So Harry found himself with quite an amusing company. Also he could ask Orion about all the things he found in that house, since he seemed to be the only portrait in the house, as much as willing to speak with him. Soon Harry talked to the man all the time, first trying to get some information and later just because he began to like the portrait. But he still was somewhat uncomfortable around the older man. So when he requested to be free to leave his painting, Harry hesitated. As he answered, Slytherin himself would be proud of him. 

“So what is my benefit of this?” he asked the portrait. “You could spill all these little secrets to the wrong people, and soon we’d have another Dark Lord. So?” 

Orion waited a moment and then said “I’ll show you my greatest secret, so no one of us will spill the other’s secret. Is it a deal?” 

Harry thought about it. He even waited a night to consider all possible outcomes, something his younger self would have never done, but in the end he came to the conclusion, that he could risk it.


	2. Chapter 2

“It’s a deal. Tell me what I have to do to reverse the spell.”

The ancient spell wasn’t that hard to learn. 

“So” Harry asked the now free man, “tell me; what is your secret?”

And without another word, the painting swung aside, revealing a small room behind. 

“Come on, go in” Orion encouraged him. 

In awe, he walked into something that seemed to be a workspace. Harry could identify a small corner that now functioned as a potions lab, there were many objects that looked very interesting and; was that a muggle chemistry book in the bookshelf? He was impressed by the knowledge that seemed to lie in this small room. And not only books, it wasn’t a room Hermione would be very fond of, but a real kind of office. 

“I see you like it?” Orion apparently could be seen from this side of the painting as well. 

“It’s wonderful” Harry replied. 

He thought it was interesting going through the rest of the house, but this room topped everything. Without the impact of other people, distracting him, expecting something of him or trying to kill him, he finally had time and nerve to care for everything else. He didn’t need to rate the magic he learnt by how useful it would be in a battle, but by how much he liked it. And on top of that, he had someone who could explain almost everything to him, or at least tell him where to look for the right book. The Black library also was great. So for the first time Harry found himself wanting more knowledge and enjoying the whole thing. 

And Orion might seem a bit grumpy and rude in the beginning, but soon he came to like the old man’s sarcastic comments. And once Harry showed his interest in learning, without any prejudices against any kind of magic, even Dark Magic and Potions, he was quite polite. Harry didn’t think very much by it, until someday he heard Orion muttering to himself about how similar Harry and Regulus were. And this kind of surprised him, but somehow he felt like he always knew. He always wanted to be like Sirius and his Dad. But recently he noticed that he never wanted the attention his father and Sirius would have adored. He never even thought of pranking someone, not even Malfoy. So it made sense. He was nothing like Sirius. So having similarities with Regulus wasn’t that bad, considering he discovered the horcrux right under Voldemort’s nonexistent nose. 

He probably still had a nose in those days... 

Also Harry found that he quite enjoyed Potions. Orion actually had the patience to explain everything from the start. Having spent almost twenty years without someone to talk to, he wasn’t going to chase away his only visitor. He could talk to the other paintings now, but they disliked Harry, and so they disliked Orion as well since he was a “traitor” and he didn’t want to run into Walburga... 

Harry kept wondering if this could have been his school life for the last seven years. Snape could have been a little nicer, and he could have loved Potions. Because the man really knew his subject, how he discovered in sixth year. Snape could correct all the school books and therefore didn’t let them use the wrong books in class, he always wrote the recipe on the board. But no, Snape had to hate his father and therefore him –and pupils in general. 

But now, with Orion’s help he managed to actually understand it, he knew why an ingredient was used in one particular Potion. He understood that he had to boil most venoms to make them react and how he wasn’t allowed to heat the most plants to avoid destroying them. He finally knew why he had to stir the potion in a specific direction and that he could leave these steps out by simply pouring the right amount of his own magic into the potion. Stirring just made it easier for the students.

Something completely new was the link to chemistry. Orion was quite fond of his few chemistry books. He explained that Regulus had this project about finding the links. He tried to explain the impact magic had in a scientific view and the results were quite impressive. The basics were that magic simply allowed the wizard to change the molecular structure and furthermore, some molecules could transport this power to shift other molecules themselves. Harry, who learnt some chemistry in his school before Hogwarts was amazed by this work and couldn’t wait to look into the matter himself. It really was fascinating. It explained so much! And there was still so much to discover, because no one ever bothered with this before. There were no books on this topic; most wizards didn’t even know the slightest bit about science. 

But Harry didn’t only learn about Potions. He also loved Orion’s explanation of wandless magic. Wizards and witches find it normal, to do accidental magic without a wand and without incantation. So why shouldn’t it stay like that? Sure, a wand makes it easier, because you have to think less, just like stirring makes potions brewing a lot easier, but it isn’t necessary. If one really believes, that it will work, it’s going to work, as simple as that. Harry just had to train to focus his magic without the help of his wand. Once he did that, it was really easy. Step for step, he did all the spells he ever learnt again, identifying the feel of them in his fingertips when he cast them. 

This was real magic, he thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit shorter than the last chapter, but it made sense to cut it here.  
> I still have enough chapters written, so I'll keep you updated :)


	3. Chapter 3

When November arrived, he was a different person. Or better, he was finally, who he really wanted to be. He didn’t want to be the Boy Who Lived, a hero who everyone admired. He wanted to be able to have a normal life, far, far away from anyone who wanted to imprison him, like the Dursleys once did. His friends didn’t like the new Harry that much. Ron and Ginny wanted someone who would play with them in their free time, they didn’t need another Hermione. 

Hermione loved his change and wanted to study with him, but their methods just weren’t the same. Hermione could spend hours just reading, but Harry rather talked about the topic. So frequently he went to his dorm to take out a painting. He enchanted this one, so that Orion could step in it. It wasn’t easy, but finally he managed. So he called for Orion who most times was happy to oblige, since he hadn’t anything interesting to do anyway. Though he complained each and every time. 

The only one of his friends who really didn’t mind his change was Luna, it seemed. But somehow this was expected.

School actually started a few days later with double Potions on a Monday morning. Was there ever a year when Gryffindor didn’t have double Potions on a Monday morning? They still had Professor Slughorn who started the lesson for the seventh and eighth years with a ridiculously hard potion. He said he wanted them to be prepared for NEWTs or something like that. Harry didn’t really approve of this teaching technique, but he couldn’t care less. 

He started on his potion and soon he noticed that he wouldn’t need the Half Blood Prince’s Book anymore. All the little corrections Snape had written into the book; he could deduce them himself. For each ingredient containing a metal, he had to add little bit of acid to unfold a specific effect, for each ingredient once belonging to an animal he had to stir a little bit more counter clockwise and other things like that. Also he tried not to stir at all, but fill his magic directly into the potion. He managed that with an easier potion at Grimmauld Place and hoped it would be all right. At the end Professor Slughorn had to admit that the potion was flawless. He didn’t like that very much, because of course he heard from the cheating incident in sixth year. Harry really wasn’t his favourite student anymore, but the Professor was mostly fair, and after he checked Harry’s book, he had to give him an O for this lesson. Harry was thrilled. It really could have been so easy all the time.

Like this Harry carried on for the first week. School wasn’t easy. He had some aspects of magic he really cared for, like Potions, wandless magic and sometimes Transfiguration. He was good, almost brilliant in those subjects (or rather only in Potions and Transfigurations, because wandless magic wasn’t taught at Hogwarts). He almost considered it fun to practice these kinds of magic. Although transfigurations got pretty hard and difficult and he had to practice a lot to keep up. But in subjects he didn’t like he got worse and worse. He had a P in History of Magic, a D in Divination and only an A in Charms although it was easy stuff they did. Harry got a lot of control over his magic because of him practicing wandless magic, but he just didn’t bother writing those essays Flitwick wanted. He still got his O in Defence, but merely because their new teacher, Professor Tripplegood, was a huge fan of him.

It was on Thursday of his second week back in school, when he recognised Draco Malfoy for the first time since his trial. The last time they saw each other, Malfoy sat on the very same chair Harry sat in fifth year after he cast the patronus. Harry told them, how Malfoy saved his life in Malfoy Manor, and how Narcissa lied to the Dark Lord just for his sake (and for Draco’s, but he didn’t tell that since he wanted to free them). Harry succeeded and therefore Malfoy could attend school and Narcissa could do – whatever she did at the moment. Lucius was another matter completely; he didn’t say one single word for his behalf. Not only because he didn’t want to help Lucius, but also because even if he wanted, he wouldn’t know what to say. The man deserved Azkaban. 

Anyway Harry would have been perfectly fine to keep ignoring Malfoy, but apparently Malfoy wasn’t too fond of the idea, since he was coming over this very moment. Harry watched him but made no move whatsoever. Malfoy came to a stop in front of his table in the library. 

“Hey Potter” he commented “still trying to hold up your new image?” Harry was annoyed. Why can’t this git keep to himself? 

“Why do you bother, Malfoy?” “Well” he exaggerated “when there is injustice inside this castle; that concerns everyone here, don’t you think?” he smirked. 

“Just say what you want from me, Malfoy” Harry was exhausted. 

“How are you cheating this time, Potter?” he asked straight forward “I know you are rubbish at potions, don’t try to fool me.” 

Harry sighed. “Why do I have to bother with this? Why always me?” he pleaded. “You see this” he held up the book he was currently reading, “there’s a reason I’m better – I study. I’m sure you’ve heard that before.” Harry teased. 

“Just wait, Potter, I'm going to find out what you’re up to this time.” Malfoy promised. With one sharp look he marched away. 

“You do your stuff” Harry just murmured and went back to reading.


	4. Chapter 4

The following days went on as normal as possible with one slight variation. Malfoy was watching his every step. One could not say he wasn’t subtle about it – Harry only realised he was being watched after two days. But still, after another four days it started getting annoying. He started avoiding public places like the library and went to the kitchens for meals instead of the great hall. He even used the Marauders Map to keep an eye on Malfoy to avoid him in any case. It felt all over like sixth year again, although it was completely different. It was not him following Malfoy, but the other way around this time. 

He was sitting on his bed in his dormitory when the idea came to his mind. An absolutely perfect idea. He was actually angry and disappointed at himself that he hadn’t thought of this before: The Room of Requirement. As soon as he could (he had to wait until Seamus left the dormitory after fetching his broom) Harry took his Invisibility cloak and hid under it. He left the dormitory and passed the Common Room silently to avoid Ron and Hermione who were sitting on a couch near the fire. 

No one noticed the portrait swinging open and closed again. As fast as he could without arousing suspicion Harry ran in the seventh floor. Halfway there he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. Was the Room of Requirement even there? Or did the fiendfyre destroy it? He hoped not. Anyway he went on.

He arrived at the right corridor and soon started pacing in front of the wall. I need a room to hide. I need a room to hide. I need a room to hide. Nothing. Harry tried not to panic. Maybe he had to start with easier things. I need a cupboard. I need a cupboard. I need a cupboard. Still nothing. But why did nothing happen? Of course, it was probably destroyed, but in the summer the professors had rebuild it. Maybe they didn’t know about the room? That’s possible, even probable. But on the other hand: he had seen the castle rebuilding itself in some places with the magic it was provided by its inhabitants. Why wasn’t the room rebuild? He sat down leaning against the wall and tried to think logically. So the castle would have had to rebuild the room itself because none of the teachers really knew about the room. So why didn’t it do it? 

He heard from Professor McGonagall that the damaged stairs started moving themselves after they were repaired. Also the ceiling in the Great Hall enchanted itself once it was whole again. So why didn’t this happen to the Room of Requirement. Maybe the magic surrounding it was too difficult? But the enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall was pretty difficult, too. McGonagall had told him that they were quite worried they had to leave the stone ceiling because it required too much magic. 

So where did the castle get the magic from? Its inhabitants. Therefore the castle had help from the pupils and teachers in it. Maybe the Room of Requirement just needed some help, too? Still under the Invisibility Cloak Harry went to the library. He spent the whole day there to find a book about constructing magical buildings, transferring magical power and transfiguring based on thoughts and willpower. A few minutes before curfew – he had missed dinner – he got a whole stack of books and got visible once to loan them from Madam Pince. 

Once he levitated the books through the Common Room and escaped the questioning looks (it was a bit hard to fit the books and himself under the cloak) he went straight to his four-poster bed and closed the curtains after he took the painting out of his trunk. His bed wasn’t an ideal work space but since he had nowhere else it had to work. He spelled the curtains shut and called after Orion. They discussed Harry’s theories he had about the room and where just about to start reading the book about basic construction when Harry heard a knock on one of his bed posts. When he got in here half an hour ago he was the only one in the dormitory, the others wanted to spend the evening together in front of the fire, playing some games until late in the night like they did the previous evenings. He considered just ignoring whoever wanted to speak to him but it creeped him out not to know who was there. 

“I don’t want to join you, I’m sleeping” he shouted without opening the curtains. 

The others soon understood that he would join them when he felt like it; and only then. They tried to get him down there before but recently they stopped. Maybe this outside was Dean, he never seemed to get a hint. 

“No, you’re not” replied Hermione’s voice. 

“Hermione?” Harry opened the curtains. “What are you doing here? You do know this is the Boy’s Dormitory, right?” 

Hermione just rolled her eyes at this. “I just wanted to know what you are doing, even for me these are a lot of books.” Hermione explained. “Is this a book about constructing?” 

She picked up the book nearest to her. “Do you mind?” came suddenly the voice from Orion Black. Hermione had picked up the book he was currently reading. “Oh of course” Hermione quickly put the book back. “Good evening, Mr. Black, by the way.” Back came just a short huff. 

“Be polite” Harry said in a threatening voice. He knew it hadn’t anything to do with Hermione’s actions but with her blood and he despised this side of the portrait. Although it got a lot better since Orion met Harry. 

“Okay, okay, good evening to you, too, Miss Granger” the portrait muttered and Hermione chuckled. 

“So what are you two doing, it seems interesting, can I help?” Hermione asked cheerful.

Harry hesitated. By now he was used to working alone or with Orion, but Hermione looked so hopeful and happy at the moment, he didn’t want to shatter that look. And maybe she could be a really good help, just like she was the countless times before. So he agreed and Hermione climbed inside his bed, got comfortable and spelled the curtains shut again. They worked for hours, discussed every now and then and learned a great deal about all the surrounding subjects. They still had no idea how to fix the room, but that was okay, they hadn’t expected to find a solution this soon. It was 2 o’clock in the morning when Hermione was so tired she just fell asleep right then and there, book still in her lap. But Harry didn’t notice, he himself fell asleep just a few minutes later.


	5. Chapter 5

“Mate? Mate wake up, it’s breakfast!” 

And suddenly there was bright light and Harry tried to hide under his blanket. Just that there was no blanket. Growling Harry opened his eyes and saw the face of a quite angry Ron. 

“Hermione?” he asked confused “What are you doing here?” he demanded to know. Then he noticed the books and visibly exhaled. It was no secret Ron got easily jealous about Hermione, but really? It was too early to deal with this, Harry thought. 

“Morning, Ronald” Hermione murmured and pushed a big book away from under her back. That must have hurt if she slept like this the whole night. Ron just sighed. “Okay guys, let’s get you two to breakfast, you look like you need it.”

Shortly later two very tired looking students and one hungry looking Ron emerged from the Common Room. As soon as Hermione and Harry got some coffee they could even appreciate the progress they made the last night. They still didn’t know exactly what to do, but they knew where to look. The room really only needed the right amount of magic to repair all the inflicted damage. The right way to give this magic to the room was a ritual. And now they needed to find the right ritual that would provide them the opportunity to regulate this amount of magic, so that they wouldn’t be drained of all of their own magic. Because of this Harry was really Harry to have Hermione on his side, because most magic rituals were based on runes, and for Harry it was a lot harder to understand the literature on rituals than it was for Hermione who had actually studied Ancient Runes.

After an exhausting school day and definitely too much attention from fangirls for Harry’s liking, they could finally get back to searching for an appropriate ritual. Ron was quite annoyed that Harry stole his girlfriend again, but Hermione just told him, that he started dating her with the knowledge that she would spend half her time in the library anyway, son Ron begrudgingly agrees and lets them study in quiet. After only half an hour Hermione excitedly shows Harry a page in a very big and old looking book. 

“Look here, Harry”, she tells him quietly, since they’re still in the library with Madam Pince just around a corner. “This ritual, you see? It lets you pour part of your magical energy into various magical artefacts. It’s not that complicated, though you need at least three people... Well we could ask Ron for this. Anyway it’s not easily accessible because it can be used for quite dark magic” She trailed off.

“That’s amazing, Hermione”, Harry told her and gave her a brief hug. “Let’s take this to Gryffindor Tower to discuss this some more”, and while Harry said that he gave his friend a grave look. Hermione understood. There was no written rule that the students couldn’t bring their portrait of their dead godfather’s father, but Harry wouldn’t risk mentioning Orion in the public library with these annoying fifth year girls on the next table listening.

Back in Gryffindor Tower they promptly made a line for the boy’s dormitory. There weren’t many students there at the moment and nobody of them gave Hermione any strange glances climbing the stairs with Harry. They took out Orion’s portrait and started reading some more on the ritual Hermione found in the library. It was quite difficult, sure enough, but they should be able to get all the ingredients the needed and the rest they would figure out. Harry had finally discovered owl-ordering the last summer, so they didn’t even have to steal from Slughorn’s supply cupboard. Though the old man probably wouldn’t even notice, only Snape kept that close a watch on his cupboard. 

Harry had ordered everything they needed and Hermione was still copying the runes and spells the intended to use, so Harry volunteered to ask Ron for help. A quick look on the Marauder’s map showed him that Ron was in the great hall with Seamus and Dean, probably organising the chess tournament Ron had told him about a few days ago.

Quickly he ran down all the stairs from Gryffindor Tower and into the Great Hall. Absentmindedly he noticed Malfoy sitting at a table in front of Luna somewhere on his left, quietly reading a book, but he didn’t pay them any attention. He waved to Dean who had noticed him bursting through the doors. “Hey, Ron!” he greeted his friend. Ron turned around and a smile spread on his face. 

“Hey, buddy, good to see those books didn’t eat you alive”, he joked. “What’s up?” he asked curiously. 

“Ah, right”, Harry took a breath, “Hermione and I need some help with this ritual we found, we need at least three people, but a few more wouldn’t be bad”, he shot a sideways glance at Seamus and Dean. 

“Uh”, Ron seemed unsure, “you really think I’m suitable for the job?” He ended the sentence with a smirk. “And if you really want to blow up whatever you’re trying then you should definitely ask dear Seamus here...” he deadpanned. 

“Hey, I’m right here, you morons!” Seamus exclaimed. Harry chuckled. “Nah, it’s really not that difficult for you, Hermione and I will do the hard stuff. We just need some magic from you to make it more powerful.” At the slightly scared looks of his friends he quickly added, “don’t worry, you’ll probably feel a bit tired and drained for one evening, but the next morning everything will be fine, I promise”, he assured them. Reluctantly but eager to help the three boys finally nodded their consent. 

“Great!” Harry declared excitedly, “I’ll go tell Hermione!” And with these words he turned to leave the Great Hall.


End file.
